Pervert Callum Gibben-Scarratt shared indecent pictures of girls as young as three on an internet chatroom.

The 26-year-old downloaded images of the girls - who were aged between three and 12 - before sharing them with fellow perverts.

But his crimes came to light when Staffordshire Police visited the Meir Heath home where he lives with his parents and searched his laptop and a USB stick.

Now Gibben-Scarratt, of Combe Drive, has admitted one charge of distributing indecent images of children and two of making indecent images of children. He downloaded five ‘category A’ images and videos - the worst ranking - and 28 ‘category C’ images.

Prosecutor David Bennett told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court: “On October 30 police officers executed a warrant in Meir Heath and found the defendant and his parents. He admitted he was responsible and said there were images on his laptop.

“Searches were made of the laptop and a pen drive. On the laptop they found three category A images and one moving picture as well as 23 category C. The USB stick had one category A and five category C.

“The images were of girls aged between three and 12. The defendant admitted using chatrooms to get indecent images of children but said he did not get sexual gratification from them or chat to anyone.”

Police raided a house in Combe Drive, Meir Heath.

Samina Rashid, mitigating, told the court her client was worried employers may not look favourably on the defendant.

She said: “He is 26 years old but presents as much younger. He lives an isolated life and spends much of his time on computers. He finds himself in this situation and is having difficulty coming to terms with what this means.

“He is ashamed by his actions and is trying to understand what it means. He is now looking at what work opportunities will be available for him and knows some work may not be readily available.”

Gibben-Scarratt has been handed a three-year community order with a 15-day rehabilitation programme. He must also complete 120 hours unpaid work, sign the Sex Offenders’ Register, and be subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Judge David Fletcher said: “You say you do not find children sexually arousing but I reject that. It is clear to me that if you are distributing images of children behaving sexually it is more than curiosity, it is because you find it arousing and to say otherwise is deceiving yourself.